Know More about Bios Beeps

While the system boots up, the BIOS checks the main hardware components like the motherboard, the system's memory and the video card to initiate the booting process. This process is known as power on self test. Now, throughout this process if anything or any hardware doesn’t respond as per the requirement then system would start bios beeps in order to indicate the user to check the system functionality again. Sometimes due to system fan or a memory stick, system beeps. However, there is a standard way of bios beeps. So, we should try to understand this and troubleshoot accordingly.

So, the moment we heard the bios beeps, we need to pay attention to it and of course the length of the beeps which could be short and long. It is better if write down your observations. For example, one beep means RAM failure. The Problem is the Mother board or failed RAM. We need to troubleshoot motherboard and/or the RAM. If the system gives two beeps than it is Parity circuit failure. Again it’s a Problem with Mother Board or failed RAM. Solution could be Troubleshooting the motherboard and/or the RAM. If its three bios beeps than Base 64K RAM failure. Problem could be failure with in the first 64k memory. We need to troubleshoot the motherboard and/or the RAM.

Four bios beeps mean system timer failure. Issue is one or more of the system timers on the motherboard has failed; usually indicates motherboard failure. Solution is to troubleshoot the motherboard and we may need to replace it. If it gives five bios beeps then it indicates processor failure. The Problem is the processor which is generating an error condition. So, we need to check all these with the BIOS manufacturers like AMI, Award and Phoenix and work accordingly.